Students hone their English speaking skills during a video lesson at Daegwang Elementary School in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. / Korea Times file

By Ko Dong-hwan

Daegu will provide extra funds for video English lessons to help teenage students become more confident conversing with English speakers.

Since March, the city has been providing money to 3,300 students from elementary and middle schools wishing to take lessons where they can speak English with native speakers from the Philippines. The students enjoyed lessons of 30 minutes three times a week, or 45 minutes twice a week.

The city's latest move will start next year and an additional 2,200 students ― grades 3 to 6 in elementary school and grades 1 to 3 in middle school ― will be eligible for the fund. While most of the students will each month get 30,000 won ($26), which is 70 percent of the lesson fees, those in the lowest income groups and from single-parent families will receive the entire fee.

"Parents' ability to pay for their children's private education fees greatly influences the children's academic performance according to research," a city official involved in the project said. "It is our city's mission to reduce each family's burden of paying for private English lessons so that the students can grow as global leaders."

In this city education project, hired instructors in the southeastern Asian country are required to hold university degrees related to English, or teaching certificates. The lessons comprise 11 levels, ranging from beginners wanting to do basic conversation to more experienced students eager to do freestyle debate.

Popularity of the lessons was so great that all spots were filled within an hour of the first day of registration this year.